E 

4-E.3 


CORRESPONDENCE 


BETWEEN 


MB.  /WEBSTER 


WASHINGTON: 

GIDEON  AND  CO.,   PRINTERS. 
1850. 


CORRESPONDENCE 


BETWEEN 


MR.  WEBSTER 


Nero  §amp01)ire 


WASHINGTON  : 

GIDEON   AND    CO.,    PRINTERS. 
1850. 


CORRESPONDENCE 


SALISBURY,  N.  H.,  August,  1850. 
To  THE  HON.  DANIEL  WEBSTER: 

It  has  occurred  to  us,  the  undersigned,  that  while 
commendation  is  reaching  you  from  all  quarters  of  our 
common  country,  for  your  recent  exertions  in  behalf 
of  the  Union  and  Constitution,  a  token  of  remem 
brance  and  gratitude  from  the  place  of  your  birth, 
from  the  home  of  your  youth,  and  the  scenes  of 
your  earlier  professional  efforts,  would  not  be  un 
acceptable. 

We  cannot  allow  this  occasion  to  pass  without  as 
suring  you  of  our  unfaltering  confidence  and  respect; 
without  assuring  you  that  your  old  neighbors  and 
their  descendants  are  as  ready  to  perform  their  con 
stitutional  duties  as  to  vindicate  their  rights;  that 
we  are  devoted  to  the  Union  as  it  is ;  that  we  adhere 
to  the  whole  Constitution;  and  that,  while  we  trust 
in  its  protection,  we  will  uphold  its  power. 

M585468 


Your  recent  labors  to  remind  a  distracted  people 
of  the  duties  which  they  owe  to  a  common  country, 
and  the  blessings  which  they  derive  from  a  common 
Constitution,  are,  in  our  judgment,  as  important  as 
any  which  you  have  performed  in  a  long  public  ser 
vice,  crowned  as  that  service  has  been  with  unsur 
passed  ability  and  success. 

To  you,  more  than  to  any  statesman  of  modern 
times,  do  the  people  of  this  country  owe  their  national 
feeling,  which  we  trust  is  to  save  their  Union  in  this 
its  hour  of  trial. 

We  have  carefully  considered  what  you  have  said 
and  proposed;  and,  as  we  understand  the  matter,  you 
are  now  upon  the  same  ground  as  when,  twenty  years 
ago,  you  crushed  nullification. 

Now  as  then,  in  spite  of  local  prejudices  and  fac 
tions,  sound  constitutional  and  national  principles  will 
prevail;  and  if  the  voice  of  general  commendation  is 
occasionally  broken  by  impotent  censure,  it  will  not 
disturb  you,  because  it  must  remind  you  that  it  is  Fac 
tion,  and  not  the  Union,  which  is  overthrown. 

Respectfully,  your  friends  and  fellow-citizens. 

(Signed) 

EBENEZER  PRICE,  ENOCH  CORSER, 

ABRAHAM  BURNHAM,  THOS.  PETTENGILL, 

NATH.  BOUTON,  HEZKKIAH  FELLOWS, 

EDWARD  BUXTON,  DAVID  AMES, 


EPH.  PLUMMER, 
ARIEL  GERRISH, 
THOMAS  LITTLE, 
WORCESTER  WEBSTER, 
J.  GREENOUGH, 
PAUL  PEARSON, 
WILLIAM  PEARSON, 
WM    CHANDLER, 
EPH.  LITTLE, 
J.  C.  GAGE, 
L.  J.  JOHNSON, 
LUTHER  GAGE, 
CALVIN  GAGE, 
J.  KIMBALL, 
N    P.  AMES, 
J.  H.  CLEMENT, 
T.  R.  LITTLE, 
J.  W.  LITTLE, 
C.  E.  SMITH, 
JOSEPH  AMES, 
WILLIAM  PATRICK, 
CALEB  B.  TRACED, 
ASA  P.  TENNEY, 
EDMUND  WORTH, 
PARKER  NO  YES, 
GEORGE  W.  NESMITH, 
S.  B.  LITTLE, 
DAVID  AMBROSE, 
HENRY  GERRISH, 
JOSEPH  PILLSBURY, 
GEORGE  LITTLE, 
ENOCH  LITTLE, 
F.  L.  BURBANK, 
J.  B.  GREENOUGH, 
JACOB  TRUSSELL, 
CHAS.  C.  COFFIN, 
A.  R.  CHANDLER, 
H.  W.  PILSBURY, 
J.  C    JOHNSON, 
HIRAM  GAGE, 
JAMES  BRIGGS, 


S.  K.  CHOATE, 
E.  G.  WOOD, 
S.  G.  CLEMENT, 
T.  D.  LITTLE, 
MOSES  FELLOWS, 
CALEB  SMITH, 
REUBEN  JOHNSON, 
ALMON  HARRIS, 
R.  GAGE, 
DAN'L  CARTER, 
DAN'L  S.  BALCH, 
N.  CLARK,  Jr., 
JOHN  JOHNSON, 
SAM'L  M.  DUREYE, 
J.  BATCHELDER, 
DAVID  HANNEFORD, 
DEXTER  PRITCHARD, 
N.  CHANDLER, 
JNO.  JAMESON, 
SAM'L  C.  FLANDERS, 
HIRAM  SIMPSON, 
ROYAL  CHOATE, 
SAM'L  GEORGE, 
JAMES  COLBURN, 
JNO.  HARRIS, 
A.  G.  STEVENS, 

D.  J.  DANIELS, 

J.  G.  O.  PEABODY, 
CHAS.  GARLAND, 
WM.  FLANDERS, 
AUSTIN  F.  PIKE, 
GEO.  ATKINSON, 

E.  F.  GREENOUGH, 
AMOS  WEBBER, 
ABNER  WINN, 
HORACE  D.  LEWIS, 
JOHN  G.  WARREN, 
A.  O.  BLANDING, 
CALVIN  GERRISH, 
H.  C.  SARGENT, 
FARNUM  COFFIN, 


6 


JAMES  T.  BOYNTON,  IRA  GREELY, 

GEORGE  S.  ROYCE,  JNO.  TAYLOR, 

JOHN  FRENCH,  HENRY  BURLEY, 

M.  A.  KILDUN,  JONATHAN  LEVETT, 

JOS.  GERRISH,  WM.  D.  LADD, 

PHINEAS  J.  PEARSON,  RALPH  WEBSTER, 

DAVID  JACKMAN,  ED.  P.  COGSWELL, 

S.  A.  AMBROSE,  AMOS  WEBSTER, 

NATHAN  PEARSON,  REUBEN  FELLOWS, 

HENRY  ROLFE,  JEREMIAH  MORRILL, 

J.  K.  BRISKETT,  R.  S.  MORRILL, 

T.  C.  ROLFE,  J.  S.  BROWN, 

A.  ROLFE,  J.  W.  STEVEN, 

JACOB  HOSMER,  WM.  G.  McQUESTEN, 

JNO.  A.  COBURN,  G.  McQUESTIN, 

ELDAD  TENNEY,  PETER  COFFIN, 

SAM'L  OSGOOD,  WM.  W.  KILBORN, 

JOSEPH  CLARK,  JOS.  CHADWICK. 
MILTON  GERISH, 


WASHINGTON,  51st  Sept.,  1850. 

GENTLEMEN  :  I  have  received  your  letter  of  last 
month,  expressing  your  approbation  of  my  public 
political  conduct,  and  especially  of  my  efforts  in  Con 
gress,  to  settle  questions  which  have  long  agitated 
the  country  and  disturbed  its  peace. 

Happily,  gentlemen,  those  questions  are  now,  I 
trust,  disposed  of,  and  better  prospects  open  upon 
the  country. 

The  thirty-one  American  States  stretch  over  a 
vast  extent  of  country,  running  through  several  de 
grees  of  latitude  and  longitude,  and  embracing  many 
varieties  of  soil,  climate,  institutions,  habits,  and  pur 
suits  ;  yet  over  all,  the  Union  and  the  Constitution 
still  stand,  everywhere  giving  protection  and  security, 
and  everywhere  cherished,  at  the  present  moment, 
with  general  and  warm  patriotic  regard.  The  inter 
ests  of  the  different  parts  of  the  country,  though 
various,  are  not  opposite  ;  flowing,  indeed,  in  diverse 
channels,  but  all  contributing  to  swell  the  great  tide 
of  national  prosperity.  Under  the  operation  of  the 
Constitution,  we  have  now  been  for  sixty  years  free 
and  happy;  civil  and  religious  liberty  have  stood  firm 
and  unshaken ;  popular  education  has  received  a  new 
impulse  and  a  wider  spread ;  and  moral  and  religious 
instruction  has  become  characteristic  of  our  age ; 


8 

agriculture,  commerce,  r.nd  manufactures  have  been 
steadily  encouraged  and  sustained ;  and,  under  the 
blessing  of  Providence,  general  competency  and  satis 
factory  means  of  living  have  everywhere  rewarded 
the  efforts  of  labor  and  industry.  And,  in  the  mean 
time,  gentlemen,  the  country  has  attained  to  such  a 
degree  of  honor  and  renown,  that  every  patriotic 
man,  in  addition  to  his  own  individual  means  of  en 
joyment,  derives  a  positive  pleasure  from  participating 
in  the  reputation  of  his  country.  Of  what  other 
country  upon  earth  can  this  be  said,  with  so  much 
truth?  Who,  then,  would  undermine  this  Union? 
Who  would  raise  his  hand  against  this  Constitution? 
Who  would  scoff  at  those  political  and  social  bless 
ings  which  Providence  has  never  before  seen  fit  to 
vouchsafe,  in  such  abundance,  to  any  community  of 
men  ?  Self  love,  our  hopes  for  the  future,  national 
pride,  and  gratitude  to  God,  all  conspire  to  prompt 
us  to  embrace  these  institutions  of  our  native  land 
with  all  the  affections  of  our  hearts,  and  to  defend 
them  with  all  the  strength  of  our  hands.  In  a  critical 
hour,  and  not  without  some  personal  hazard,  I  have 
discharged  my  duty  and  freed  my  conscience,  to  its 
very  depth,  in  public  efforts  to  maintain  them,  limited 
only  by  the  measure  of  my  ability.  And  since 
these  efforts  are  regarded  as  having  contributed  some 
thing  to  the  adjustment  of  dangerous  controversies, 
and  to  the  establishment  of  peace  and  harmony 
among  fellow-citizens  and  brothers,  I  desire  no  re- 


I 

ward  but  the  cheering  voices  of  good  men,  and  the 
approbation  of  my  own  conscience. 

And  now,  Friends  and  Neighbors,  I  could  pour 
out  my  heart  in  tenderness  of  feeling  for  the  affec 
tionate  letter  which  comes  from  you.  Approving 
voices  have  been  heard  from  other  quarters ;  other 
commendations  have  reached  me,  high  enough  and 
warm  enough  to  demand,  as  they  have  received,  my 
most  grateful  acknowledgments  and  regard.  But 
yours  comes  from  home ;  it  comes  from  those  whom 
I  have  known,  and  who  have  known  me,  from  my 
birth.  It  is  like  the  love  of  a  family  circle;  its  influ 
ences  fall  upon  my  heart  as  the  dew  of  Hermon. 
Those  of  you  who  are  the  most  advanced  in  age 
have  known  my  father,  and  my  family,  and  especially 
that  member  of  it,  whose  premature  death  inflicted  a 
wound  in  my  breast,  which  is  yet  fresh  and  bleeding. 
Some  of  you  were  my  companions  in  the  country 
schools;  with  others  I  have  partaken  in  the  sports  of 
youth,  the  cheerful  labor  of  the  field  of  agriculture, 
and  in  the  associations  and  exercises  of  early  man 
hood.  I  see  on  the  list  learned  and  now  aged  and 
venerable  clergymen ;  professional  gentlemen  and 
magistrates,  of  my  own  age,  whom  1  have  long 
honored  and  esteemed  ;  and  others  of  all  classes  and 
all  pursuits  in  life.  There  are  on  the  list,  also,  not  a 
few,  who  bear  my  name  and  partake  my  blood. 
What  I  was  in  early  life  you  all  know;  towards  what 


10 

I  may  have  done  at  subsequent  periods,  for  the  good 
of  the  country,  you  have  ever  manifested  sufficiently 
favorable  and  partial  regard;  and  now,  after  I  have 
been  called  upon  to  act  a  part  in  a  more  important 
crisis,  perhaps,  than  any  other  of  my  life,  your  kind 
regard,  your  neighborly  recognition  of  former  times 
and  former  friendships,  and  the  affectionate  terms  in 
which  you  express  yourselves,  make  your  letter  a 
treasure,  precious  in  my  esteem,  which  I  shall  keep 
near  me  always,  while  I  live,  and  leave  for  the  grati 
fication  of  those  who  may  come  after  me. 

Your  obliged  friend  and  neighbor, 

DAN.  WEBSTER. 

To  Rev.  EBENEZER  PRICE, 

Kev.  ABRAHAM  BURNHAM,  D.  D. 

Rev.  WM.  PATRICK, 

Rev.  CALEB  B.  TRACEY, 

Rev.  NATHANIEL  BOUTON,  D.  D. 

Rev.  ASA  P.  TENNEY, 

Rev.  EDMUND  WORTH, 

Rev.  ENOCH  CORSER, 

Hon.  PARKER  NOYES, 

Hon.  THOMAS  H.  PETTEXGILL, 

Hon.  GEORGE  W.  NLSMITH,  and  others. 


1 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
BERKELEY 

Return  to  desk  from  which  borrowed. 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


7Nov"5lLU 


Iie2  31952  LU 


n'58TS 

f 

JAN    71358 


9Jan'59CGz 

REC'D  CD 
OEC1519S8 


fc 
REC'D  LTD 

AUG10'64-I2.M 

DEC 


EIVED 


LD  21-100m-ll,'49(B7146sl6)47< 


MAY  13 1^87 


MB  use  MAY  131987 


U.C.  BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


